2o8 Life and Times of " The Druid." 



the following day, and I think the provoca- 

 tion he received fully justified his doing so. 

 He had taken my mother and three or four 

 of us children to a firework night at the 

 Crystal Palace. There was the usual crush 

 on the way to the railway station when the 

 time came to return home, and, at one point, 

 this was made worse by the foolish action of 

 a little man, who placed one of his arms 

 right across a narrow door-way. Seeing that 

 my mother, who was just in front of him, 

 was in danger of getting hurt, my father 

 reached over her shoulder and quietly moved 

 the man's arm in order to let her pass. The 

 obstructionist took no notice at the moment, 

 but just as my father had begun to descend 

 the long flight of steps to the platform, a 

 violent kick from behind nearly precipitated 

 him and the youngest child, who was in his 

 arms, from the top to the bottom. How- 

 ever, he managed to keep his balance, and 

 reach level ground in safety, and then I have 

 a vivid remembrance of his giving a very 

 pretty exhibition of Association football, 

 from one end of that long platform to the 

 other, his cowardly little assailant enacting 



